As a person who runs a SME working from home is the biggest headache.
You have absolutely no idea what anyone is doing even though you spend a lot of your own time trying to figure out what everyone is doing.
Luckily most of my workers prefer to come in.
Yeah, itās a good point. I try not to go near the āworkā computer on weekends, even just to sh*tpost on here, because Iāll likely still have some tabs open or some work there, and Iāll find myself getting sucked into it.
The dog loves it.
He gets taken for big walks every morning, and his bed has been moved into the den, so he can sleep behind me all day.
Pets really have won out over the past few years.
Working from home is good I think if you have been in the same job for a while.
When starting a new one it sucks.
I think everyone who loves it , loves it for everything attending an office prevented them from doing.
But for doing your office work once in the office itās much more efficient.
Faster IT, seeing people face to face to get things done(or what doesnāt need to be done), finding your next career move in a big company, setting up a work plan.
Just communicating āfull duplexā so to speak of lending a technology term. Itās painful always chatting on a zoom/teams/slack etc call.
That being said using chat programs like teams or slack which you really need working from home which has been used extensively in younger workplaces will be a revolution for staid old businesses like telcos, banks, govt etc. using those is great for sharing screens and demonstrating and presenting things.
Iām pretty sure now that business will hope for a genuine hybrid work place. The big employers wanted that pre covid so they could genuinely hot-desk and reduce their commercial office space footprint.
Effectively they have outsourced that cost to their employees without having to give them a pay rise.
Thatās a win for balance sheets.
Next step will be employing staff in cheaper cities for more remote work.(in Oz or overseas)
My wife just got a fully remote job working for a company based in Perth. Sheās negotiated a four day week as well. Canāt imagine that would have been as easy as it was 3 years ago.
LOL, or not.
Have not worked in the office since March 13th, 2020. Missed it at first, but now dread the thought of wasting over an hour of my life each day in traffic. 
Yeah I havenāt been working later working from home.
Instead Iāve been home cooking meals, making the gym and spending more time with my partner. Someone I prefer to eat with!
Oh and guilt free blitz on breaks
āflexibleā has become another recruitment buzzword now, lot of people are capitalising on it as a bonus when in actual fact their idea of flexible is āhey we might let you take annual if weāre not too busyā.
Jobs that are directly advertising hybrid models seem to be more amenable to actual flexible work arrangements - at least from what Iāve been seeing
Just ask what collab tools they use remotely at interview
If the company has good IT for it you know itās well used and therefore open to it?
Yeah, Iāve got that impression on a few of them.
āLook, you could work from home, butā¦ā
WFH has itās advantages, albeit not all people have the same work ethic.
I head up all Technology and ICT and have put measures in place to have three days in the office and two days from home, which then swaps every second week - thereās also the added flexibility to take more days from home if/when required. For the most part, my team are responsible and havenāt taken advantage of this; but some individuals are inclined to lean moreso towards home these days since the emergence of COVID19.
For me, Iām finding Iām more productive as there are less physical interactions/interruptions to break my operating rhythm. On a personal note, Itās also useful as Iām able to help my wife with the babies when she needs a hand.
Offering remote roles, opens up the talent pool substantially.
You donāt have to be limited to employees who live within commuting distance of your office.
Iām sure this will be an unpopular opinion, but I think if youāre going to work from home and do your shopping (whether physically or online for that matter) then you canāt complain too much about being on call.
Depends on your level, of course.
Good point.
Or able-bodied. Or mentally suited to working among others.
Youād have to think it will help a lot of people.
Yes this is an excellent point. I worry a lot more about the new staff Iāve brought on in the last two years then any of the old ones. Even when we do virtual office catch-ups (we are a small ~20 person office in a big company) you can tell they find it really intimidating to get involved.
And even though I said I donāt check on my staff I meant that from a day-to-day what are you doing right now perspective. Obviously we do regular 1 on 1s (just like we did pre-WFH). What you donāt get or takes a lot more effort is realising when people are having a tough time just by their body language. The morning coffee walk is one of the things I miss most because thatās when youād find out how people are really going.
Do you think weāre far away from working for international companies from home?
I donāt know how difficult that is with different currencies and workplace laws and such.
Edit: I mean, call centres are obviously already doing it. I know the banks are getting their contracts done in Indiaā¦
I guess I mean higher level jobs.
I can only do about 40% of my work from home tops so itās not a option. My wifeās company WFH for about 6 weeks and she hated it as does most of the others. She misses the workplace interactions with other staff and her work are quite stringent on WFH conditions ie Webcam basically watching you all day and monitoring breaks plus being in management with confidential data she has to have a designated office where door must be closed and no one else allowed in. Productivity is obviously up as staff arenāt having 10 cigarette breaks a day or wandering down to the kitchen at work every hour.
Already happening, doesnāt make a difference if youāre not client facing and you only have to focus on output
I worked for a publisher in England many years ago. Got paid in British Pounds, too, which was a delightful exchange rate at the time.
Oh right, yeah, canāt help you there.
offshoring is for cheap labour that the business doesnāt want to spend on automation for.
higher level stuff is a bit different, but you might see countries go the NZ model where if youre hiring someone from outside NZ you have to be 100% sure no one local has comparable skills.